This is a small village near Dover in Kent. My intention is to show some of the Village, its history and the wildlife I find there.

Wednesday, 21 January 2009

If the local paper says there's a Penguin on the beach.........

The morning was quite bright when I arrived in the Bay, but within an hour the sky had became darker than I can remember seeing it for long while. Fortunately the main recipient of the contents were either the sea or the French coastal area.

The sea was full of birds, sadly to far out to photograph. The number of Auks has gone up exponentially in the last few days, and there were groups feeding and large numbers moving both up and down the channel. Most that were close enough to identify were Guillemots, but there were also small groups of Razorbills but not any that would be more exciting. In addition small groups of Kittiwakes move through and at least one adult Gannet was seen at a distance. The only Ducks I saw were seven Common Scoter. At one time large groups of gulls were circling over a small area and the plunge diving, I assume that there is a sudden influx of small fish out there. For a brief moment I thought I saw the back of a mammal appear, but I didn't relocate it. Every now and again one of these Guillemots finds its way onto a beach and then come the Penguin stories in the local paper or radio Kent!

At East Langdon I noticed a "lump" on a distant electricity "pylon" and as expected it was one of the local Buzzards. Before I could get a photo it dropped out of sight and then reappeared further away on a similar structure. I did get a picture that just about give the impression of a bird!

When it dropped to the ground it started to feed on a dead Gull, I think a Black-headed that had possibly hit the electricity wires, two Carrion Crows were in attendance, hoping for scraps.